News & Public Affairs

Tuesday March 31, 2015

Former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian was deported from the United States Wednesday night. He and his wife, Nahla, arrived in their new home, Turkey on Thursday. In only his second broadcast interview since being arrested in February 2003, Al-Arian spoke Friday on True Talk.

Update: On Wednesday afternoon one of their daughters confirmed to WMNF News that Sami and Nahla Al-Arian had arrived in their new country, Turkey. In the days to come we'll bring you more on this story.

Former USF professor Sami Al-Arian was deported from the U.S. late Wednesday night; in an online statement he thanked friends and supporters, writing, "We look forward to the journey ahead and take with us the countless happy memories we formed during our life in the United States."

Some within St.Pete community are voicing their support for keeping city’s only African-American museum where it is now. Saturday at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African-American museum backers filled the main room to listen to advocates explain why the museum’s location means so much. Museum board members, community activists and elected officials are focused on preserving the museum.

The museum is located near the intersection of 9th Avenue South and 22nd St...

The ACLU of Florida is criticizing a type of radar that is being used by police to penetrate buildings. The name of the device is Range-R. To talk about Range-R and other surveillance methods, WMNF's Seán Kinane was joined in the studio by Michael Pheneger, the local chair of the ACLU of Florida, who also took calls from listeners.

Saturday is Charles Darwin day, and a group of humanists from the Tampa Bay area will be celebrating the scientist at the Clearwater Unitarian Universalist Octagon. Mark Brandt,one of the organizers of the event, joins us to talk about the importance of valuing reason and scientific thinking. Also joining us are two scientists who will be speaking at the event, David Lynn and Herb Silverman. Lynn is the Chemistry Chair at Emory University and Silverman is a retired math professor who once ra...

After a long search, WMNF has found its new general manager; Craig Kopp will leave his position as host of All Things Considered at WUSF to be the new manager of this station, 88.5 FM. His first day at WMNF will be March 2.

Craig Kopp said, "WMNF is a Tampa Bay treasure. What other station in town can say it started
by seeking donations door-to-door. It is really a Tampa Bay station - for the people, by the people. WMNF's all-volunteer air staff and support personnel have what it has alwa...

Tom Scherberger, journalist and director of media relations for Eckerd College, shares his experiences from a recent two week trip to Cuba, tagging along with Economics Professor Peter Hammerschmidt and 18 students as part of an educational trip to learn about the island's economy.

Early this week State Senator Jeff Brandes from St. Pete filed a broad medical marijuana bill that would legalize the drug for medical use for patients with a bunch of different ailments. Those include things like ALS, AIDS and HIV, seizures, cancer and more broad areas like chronic pain. The move may have shocked some people. That's because Brandes is a Republican. He and many in his party lobbied hard against a medical marijuana amendment that would have similarly allowed the medical use of...